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janothebear · Sep 15, 2011, 08:52 PM

Hello-
So recently my internal drive died. I had it replaced by an authorized Apple shop with a larger drive plus more RAM.
I had been backing up with Time Machine. The external drive I am backing up to is a Seagate, prolly a couple of years old. The files all seem readable from the Seagate, and I have run verify and repair from disk Utilities, all seems well. This external drive shows up on the desktop, but when I open TimeMachine I am not able to navigate to the backup date that I want. TM doesn't seem to see the Seagate drive at all- but it is still backing up to it.
It was suggested to me that I try Migration Assistant- but when I choose "migration method- from Time Machine backup...." a window comes up saying "select the system to transfer." At that point my internal HD is the only disk I can choose- and it's icon is the Time Machine logo?!
Seems like this should be an easy task, but I'm perplexed. TM doesn't seem very intuitive.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. BTW, I am running Leopard 10.5.8 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo.
Thanks Very Much,
Jan

ibook_steve · Sep 16, 2011, 02:05 AM

By using the same TM disk, you're now backing up the new empty drive that was replaced. Hopefully, the old backups have not been erased from the TM drive. Can you go into the folders on the TM disk and see your old files?

Have you followed the instructions here? It's for Snow Leopard, but it should be the same for Leopard, I think:

Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Recovering your entire system

Steve

Big Mac · Sep 16, 2011, 08:31 AM

Yeah, I'm concerned he got his TM drive wiped after opting it to use it as a backup drive on the fresh system.

janothebear · Sep 16, 2011, 10:26 AM

Steve and Big Mac,

Thanks for the clarification. It made sense to me to use the same TM disc, but now I understand why I shouldn't do that. The old backups appear to still be there- I can open random files from the backups in "preview."
When I get home later I will try following the directions from the link you posted, Steve. Thanks very much and I'll let you know if it works.
I already have a different disc to use for backup from now on.
thanks again,
Jan

Big Mac · Sep 16, 2011, 11:35 AM

If your files are still there Migration Assistant should be able to transfer them. I don't know why it isn't seeing the TM disk. Maybe try the restore function off the OS installation disc.

janothebear · Sep 17, 2011, 08:06 AM

Thanks folks!
Following the instructions Steve posted I was able to recover the backup I wanted.
I very Much appreciate the help- thanks again!

Jan